What Does That Make Us?
by Sinmora
Summary: When Astra betrays her fellow Kryptonians by saving Alex's life on top of the garage, Alex returns the favor by hiding her from the DEO. When a new threat arrives in National City with kryptonite weapons, Astra reveals herself and comes to her niece's aid. With Alex's help, she begins a path of redemption with the DEO, and both find more than they thought possible in the other.
1. Chapter 1

NOTE! READ ME!

No, I have not started a new story/fandom yet. My friend is having some trouble with believing me when I say this story is going to be amazeballs, so I have convinced her to let me post it under my name so you can give some feedback. Let 'er rip! (Because I really really want to read the end of this story. haha)

\- Sin

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"Astra, don't!"

The words tore themselves out of Alex's throat, clawing their way out of her damaged larynx almost of their own accord.

It was as if time had stopped for an instant or slowed down. She had watched as the scene played out before her, Jonn's arrival, the sound of Astra's hopeful voice as she said her nieces name, the shift of her stance, her defensive position, the pivot of her foot as she prepared herself for battle.

And as she stumbled away from the concrete barrier she had been precariously bent over a moment ago she watched this scenario play itself out to its inevitable end. Someone was going to die if she didn't do something.

If only Jonn had gone with another team. If only he wasn't so intent on protecting her, keeping his promise to her father. If only she'd had more time.

She had been getting through to Astra, she knew it, the woman had already been loosening her grip when Jonn arrived, she saw the shift in Astra's too bright eyes, her words had struck a nerve and she had to press that advantage now before the two Aliens began trading devastating blows.

And that's when the words had formed and fell from her lips, in the space between heartbeats.

Just as quickly as she had turned to face Jonn, Astra turned back to face her, dark curls and white streak whipping about her as she spun, her body only half turned so as to keep both her adversaries in sight at all times, there was no way a seasoned soldier like Astra would turn her back on a foe as powerful as a Martian and she had learned not to under estimate Alex.

Despite the ache in her throat and the pain in her chest Alex kept her gaze locked on Astra's, dark brown eyes never wavering from the intense steely glare being levelled at her, the near cold calculation with which she was being analysed made her swallow as hard as her injured throat would allow but she didn't blink, didn't back down.

She reached to her chest and unclasped the strap that held the sheathed sword to her back, the weight of it slipping away from her body, the slight relief in her shoulders was almost worth the risk in and of itself.

Reaching behind herself and clasping the sheath she pulled it around her body until she could grasp the hilt of the sword, for the briefest of seconds her eyes slipped to Jonn, who stood tense and ready, watching Alex as closely as Astra was, waiting for her sign or signal she guessed, waiting to see what Alex was doing so he could respond accordingly, but as her fingers closed over the hilt and she felt the soft, pulsing warmth of the kryptonite blade, she saw the infinitesimal shake of his head.

Despite the grim set of his alien features, Alex felt the smallest of smiles tug at the corners of her lips, a micro-expression designed to calm and comfort him, to tell him without words she had everything under control; that she knew what she was doing.

Alex watched as Astra's eyes narrowed, watching her every movement, the ripple of tension that rolled through the General's body as she flicked her eyes over Alex.

Setting her shoulders and her stance, readying herself in case this did go horribly wrong, she took another deep breath and drew out the blade.

The soft sickly green glow made Astra step back, despite the bright blue light above her heart that was her kryptonite armour.

As quickly as she had drawn the blade from its lead lined sheath, Alex slowly dropped into a couch and set it on the ground, standing back up slowly with her hands raised in surrender, pressing a foot to the blade and sliding it as far away from herself as she could.

Alex watched with a mixture of soaring swooping, gut churning hope and humour as both Aliens watched the blade skid away with almost identically perplexed expressions.

"I was wrong Astra," Alex began, taking a few careful, slow strides forward towards the woman, who only moments ago seemed very set on choking the life out of her.

Astra's gaze snapped back to Alex quickly, despite the pinch around her eyes as her gaze narrowed on Alex, she knew she was listening, not considering how quickly she could snap Alex in two.

"You asked me, what we are," And even with her hands held at shoulder height Alex indicated the two of them with a gesture of her fingers, her voice soft, calm, the slightest note of trepidation as she took another step forward.

"You and I are all Kara has left,"

Alex noticed the slightest of shifts in Astra's stance, she hasn't said anything but she notices the smallest of changes to the set of her shoulders, the unfurling of her clenched fists, the look in her eyes changes from cold consideration to something approaching warmth at the mention of Kara and so Alex continues, knowing she can keep this from spiralling out on control if she just keeps reminding Astra about the thing that binds them together.

"You love her Astra, as if she was your own."

There was a drooping in Astra's gaze; a sorrowful and sad expression flittered across her sharp features for the briefest of seconds.

"My family took her in and loved her as if she was one of us. She is my little sister and I love her more than anything else on this earth, you and I have that in common, we would do anything for Kara."

Astra swallowed and the expression on her face changed from sorrowful to down-right heartbroken.

"We are her protection Astra, you and I, we keep her safe from the evils that try and diminish her light, she's our hope and we are her protection, you tried to save her when she was a child, you can save her now."

Alex was within arms-reach of Astra now, standing in front of the General like they had only hours before in Kara's apartment, bright warm sun slight filling the space around them as they stood almost toe to toe.

Alex wasn't sure what had changed so much in the last few hours, why all of a sudden she was so sure she could save Astra, that she could talk her down, bring her back to Kara, but she was determined to try, not just for Kara's sake, but perhaps for everyone's. Without Astra the Kryptonians wouldn't be nearly as much of a threat.

Non was a brute, a bully, he was cunning and cruel but he didn't have vision or strength of leadership like Astra did. Astra was what held the alien forces together. If Alex could bring Astra into the fold, maybe she could weaken them enough; demoralize them enough that they would be easier for the DEO to deal with.

And then there was the realization that they were far more alike than Alex had ever really considered.

Alex held her breath as her eyes darted over Astra's face, trying to read the woman in front of her, trying to gauge if her words had any impact at all, if perhaps by some miracle this could turn to their advantage after all.

Almost eye to eye the two of them stood as Astra's piercing blue eyes racked over Alex, the intensity of her sweep giving Alex goose-bumps.

It was a heartbeat, a second, a blink of an eye but Alex felt rather than saw Astra's defences fall, she felt the woman relax, her shoulders drop slightly as she began to nod her head.

But it didn't last longer than that, suddenly Astra's entire body stiffened and her head tilted slightly, Alex had seen Kara do the exact same thing too many times before to not know what Astra was doing, she heard the softest of breaths leave Astra's mouth with the word "No," floating on it.

"What?" Alex didn't get a chance to say any more than that. She stepped back fractionally and realized she could hear it now too, it sounded like jet engines speeding in their direction.

Looking past the fall of Astra's dark curls she could see three bright blue lights in the sky heading straight for them.

Jonn was less than ten feet away preparing him-self for the attack to come, readying himself, dropping into a fighting stance and hissing something in what Alex figured as his native tongue.

She glanced from him to her sword which was a good fifteen feet away and felt very exposed, her gun was filled with useless lead bullets and was out of reach and she had thrown away her only other weapon.

Alex turned back to Astra at the exact moment that the oncoming bodies collided with their respective targets.

Alex felt the impact, the air shuddering around her as she expected to be launched off the side of the car-park to fall to her death; she clenched her eyes tight and turned her head, waiting for the shock and pain of impact, the weightlessness of flight.

But nothing happened, opening her eyes a sliver she felt her throat close, shock and relief battling within her as she realized what it was she was looking at.

She was between the car-park wall and Astra, the slightly taller woman's frame was turned so her back was to Alex, her stance was planted, her feet braced against the concrete under her, her arms thrown up and crossed over her chest to protect her head and abdomen as she bore the brunt of the Kryptonians attack.

Alex was pressed so close to Astra's back she could feel the steel corded muscles of the woman tense and surge as she held back her former troops, keeping them at bay, holding them back from Alex, using her own body as a shield.

Alex's heart was thundering in her chest and her mind was a whirlwind of over whelming emotions, adrenaline was surging through her, her agents instincts screaming at her, tightening her muscles, readying her for a fight, even if she was hopelessly out matched, but the sight in front of her froze her for a moment.

Only moments ago the two of them were adversaries, at odds, both of them knowing that if pushed they would have to fight and possibly kill the other, but when her troops arrived Astra's hand was forced. Alex had naturally assumed Astra would fall back into her role as their General; she would turn on Alex in order to save herself.

Instead, she was there, in front of her, so close that Alex's turned shoulder was pressed between Astra's tensed shoulder blades. She could feel every twitch of the muscles that writhed beneath the thick black material of Astra's suit.

Alex's breathing was fast and hard, as was her heart beat, but adrenaline and training told her to keep her head and so her focus tightened and she managed a glance towards were Jonn had been a second ago, he was gone but she could hear fighting above them and assumed he had taken to the air in the hopes of drawing the Kryptonians away.

She took a moment to glance down over her shoulder, behind her was the side of the car-park, down however many stories to a splattery death, she was pinned between a wall and a hard place, literally, Astra was like granite, unmoveable, she just kept blocking blow after blow, unmoving in her defence of the human, unwilling to go on the offensive in case she left Alex exposed.

A sound caught Alex's attention and she looked down at her feet, planted to keep her turned and bracing herself against Astra's back, adding her weight to Astra's almost, as if in an effort to keep Astra from sliding back any further.

The ground beneath Astra's feet had buckled, cracks like spider webs were fanning out from under her boots, small sections crumbling and dropping away as she continued to hold her ground against the pair of Kryptonians intent on pummelling her into submission.

"Astra!" Alex called out over the sounds of blows being landed and the urgency in her voice made Astra turn her head away from her opponents for a moment and catch Alex's quick eyes down.

As if needing no more communication than that Astra changed her tactics, she suddenly spun and grabbed for Alex her fingers curling around the harness still strapped to Alex's waist and hauled the smaller framed woman against her side, turning and dropping at the same time, pulling Alex in as close as possible as she curled her body around Alex, leaving her back and side exposed to her enemy for the briefest of moments.

Alex didn't know what it was Astra was trying to accomplish with this manuever of hers, Alex was pressed tightly to Astra's side, trying to make her slim body as small a target as possible as she curled her forehead into Astra's shoulder, feeling the older woman change her grasp on Alex, wrapping an arm around her waist.

Then Astra brought her other arm down, clenched fist slamming into the ground with enough force that Alex could feel the blow back, felt the shudders as the ground collapsed under the devastating blow. Kryptonians didn't need to use so much force, Astra could flick her fingers and reinforced steel would shatter, but it was a show of force more than a requirement of it, it was a statement of intent on the General's part.

The car-park gave way beneath them and for a moment Alex clutched to Astra's upper arms, her fingers digging into the warm material but not making any impression on the impervious skin beneath.

All of this had happened in such quick succession that the two Kryptonians were caught unawares, the ground beneath them swallowing them up as the entire section of car-park fell away under them and they plummeted to the floor below, debris following them down. Their impact on the cars below was enough to send them through that level as well, possibly through the next two levels.

Alex lifted her head from Astra's shoulder to realize they were floating above the hole Astra had just formed, the Kryptonian woman's arm banded about the small of Alex's back as she held her pressed the length of her body, her blue eyes hard and flint like as she glared down the black pit beneath their hovering feet.

Alex looked down as well, brushing her short cropped hair back behind her ear, glancing from Astra's sharp elegant features and then down again, knowing that some falling concrete and cars were not going to stop kryptonians for long.

Releasing a breath she didn't realize she was holding she cut her eyes back to Astra's and realized the almost unfocused look in her eyes was Astra using her x-ray vision to try and find her troops under the pile of rubble and mangled cars.

Behind them suddenly Jonn landed with a resounding thud, his knee pressed into the throat of the Kryptonian he had been battling, cutting off the leanly built man's oxygen supply as Jonn applied his whole weight to the effort of keeping the man pinned.

Astra gently floated them back to the ground, setting Alex down with all the grace and softness of someone handling glass she slipped her arm away from Alex and Alex saw the shift in Astra, the shift that came with being a General, her blue eyes hardened, her entire frame become much more threatening, her hands curled into fists again as she glared at the fallen soldier Jonn was still wrestling with.

Alex stepped away from Astra and walked the few feet to retrieve her gun, unloading the ordinary rounds and pulling a second clip from her belt, drawing it out of its lead lined case she slipped the magazine of Kryptonite rounds into the weapon and pulled back on the slide with a resounding click that made Astra look at her sharply even as she strode towards her fallen former comrade.

There was a shift in her gaze, an understanding that crossed her features. No accusations or concerns that perhaps the weapon would be turned on her, no recriminations for Alex switching to an ammunition that was lethal to her, just a quiet acceptance.

Alex and Astra both advanced on Jonn's position, Alex raising her gun and aiming it at the man who was still attempting to struggle with Jonn who grunted as he took a palm thrust to the chin but didn't relent his grip on the wiggling writhing body under him.

Astra's eyes glowed red for a second and then died, the crisp blue returning as she called out the man's name, her voice commanding and sharp but also Alex thought she heard a tinge of weariness in her tone, a tiredness that she didn't think she'd ever heard from the usually stern and stoic woman.

The man stilled under Jonn's grasp and his eyes snapped to Astra, his expression was one of righteous anger and disgust, flashes of hurt and betrayal flittered across his rounded face as he looked upon his former General, there was no real change in Astra's demeanour as far as Alex could tell, the woman was still tall, proud and confident, her stride was still strong, her shoulders still pushed back, her stance was still very much that of a leader, a woman in control, but the expression on her face wasn't the grim set determination Alex had seen earlier. In fact it was very hard to get a read on Astra's expression; it was too subtle and full of things Alex didn't understand in the heat of the moment.

Astra opened her mouth to speak, perhaps to try and convince the man to surrender or to offer him the chance but from behind her burst two furious kryptonians, concrete dust coating their black combat suits as they tore back into the sky and hovered for a split second.

Astra turned to face the threat, her dark curls whipping about her as she narrowed her eyes and launched into the air.

Alex took a few steps back, closing the gap between herself and Jonn as she turned her weapon on the closest of the two threats and realized in the space of a breath that the blue light on his combat suit was flickering sporadically, with a tight grimace of a smile she opened fire on him.

In the sudden confusion the man Jonn had been restraining turned the tables on the Martian and their fight began anew even as the Kryptonian Alex had fired on froze in mid-air, a stunned slightly bewildered expression on his face as he canted sideways and then dropped like a stone, plummeting to the ground with a nearly earth shattering thud, his body sprawled in an unnatural position.

Alex felt a small tug in the bottom of her stomach, guilt and regret that lasted only a second as she turned her sharp eyes towards Astra, who was floating a good thirty feet in the air trading heavy blows with her opponent.

She pointed her weapon up, trying to get a good line of sight on the man but the two combatants were moving too fast for her to get a clear shot, each of them swooping and diving and driving at one another like battering rams and Alex couldn't risk accidently hitting Astra.

All of a sudden she felt the wind almost knocked out of her as a body collided with hers, large arms wrapped around her middle and pulled her close as they both went skidding across the car-park and Alex took a second to realize it was Jonn, wrapping his larger sturdier frame around hers to try and protect her from the impact.

The two of them rolled for a few metres before they came to a stop and Jonn let her go, immediately pulling himself up onto a knee in order to place a hand on her shoulder and check on Alex, flicking his cape slightly behind himself.

"Are you alright?" His voice held a shaky note of concern that she found endearing, no matter his form or appearance, that almost fatherly concern filled his voice and he just couldn't seem to stop himself from worrying about her.

"I'm fine." She groaned as she pushed herself up onto her elbows and then staggered to her feet with Jonn helping to tug her back into a standing position.

Alex swept the roof for threats and saw the Kryptonian Jonn had been fighting with standing at the satellite box with the device Astra had been so intent on using.

Even as Jonn sped away to deal with him Alex spun in a circle to try and locate Astra, finding the woman less than fifteen feet away but she wasn't struggling with her opponent any more.

Alex noted the expression on the man's face, he seemed to be caught between disbelief and pain, he glanced down briefly and then at Astra's face again; his expression morphing into cold anger.

He said something in Kryptonian before he squared his shoulders and took off, straight up into the star filled sky.

Alex didn't take any notice of his exit, instead she called Astra's name as she jogged towards her, feeling the aches and pains of the evenings events as she moved, her muscles hurt, she was sure she had a few bruises down her sides and her elbows and knees hurt from where she'd gone bouncing across the concrete but she put all of those to the back of her mind as she finally came to stand just behind Astra, Jonn joining her as the red glow dimmed from his transformation back into Hank Henshaw.

Alex reached out to touch Astra on the shoulder to get the woman's attention and subconsciously in that moment she noted that there was a difference in Astra's frame but she didn't have time to dwell on it.

"Astra?"

Astra staggered back, her legs giving out on her, her knees buckling and it was only training and reflexes that meant Alex caught her in time to stop her from collapsing backwards onto the rooftop.

"Oh my god," Alex breathed as she cradled the older woman in her lap a little awkwardly, despite her lean trim frame, Astra was heavier than she looked and Alex took a moment to reposition her as carefully as possible, her brown eyes trailing over Astra's twitching form.

"Alex." Hank's voice hissed as he took stock of Astra's body and indicated her side with a quick flick of his head.

One of Astra's hands was pressed against her left lower rib cage and blood was slowly oozing through her fingers, but what was more disturbing was the soft tinges of green that bleed through the gaps.

"Oh no,"

"Kara,"

"Shhhh, don't try to talk."

"We need to get her back to base as quickly as possible."

"We need to stem the bleeding first."

Hank didn't respond simply added his large hands to Astra's pushing down a little on the wound and eliciting a pained moan.

"Kara…. It's Astra…you need to get over here right now." Alex reached up with a trembling hand to press down on her ear piece.

It seems to take an interminably long time for Kara to arrive, longer than Alex feels it should and she feels the cold gnawing worry about her sisters' condition after a fight with Non crawl under her skin.

Alex has slipped herself out from under Astra's tense trembling body, setting her gently on the cold concrete, brushing back Astra's dark locks as sweat begins to bead on the pale woman's forehead, her body's natural reaction to the proximity of Kryptonite.

And the blood still pumping from between Hank's fingers, he's trying to be as gentle as possible while maintaining pressure on the wound; was a very stark reminder that no matter how invulnerable Kryptonians might appear, there were still ways to kill them.

Astra's breathing is shallow and quick as she tries to fight off unconsciousness and death, Alex isn't sure how deeply the blade has penetrated into her body but she's certain that its near major organs and arteries and if they don't get Astra back as soon as possible she is not going to last much longer.

"Alex!"

Kara lands far more carelessly than she normally does, the ground cracking slightly under the weight of her impact, whether it's from her own fatigue or her distraction at the sight of Astra lying prone and bleeding on the ground Alex isn't sure.

"Kara, she, she was going to help us, she _was_ helping us and then one of them had Hank's knife." Alex explained in a rush of words as she ran over to her sister and then brought her back to Astra's side.

Hank looked up at them both with nothing but pity and sympathy, nothing but soft warm fatherly concern, "We need to get her back as quickly as possible."

Alex saw Kara's throat bob as she swallowed hard, her sisters' large eyes round and shimmering with tears she was trying desperately to hold back.

With a nod and a determined set to her jaw Kara kneeled down beside her Aunt, her features softening when Astra's eyes fluttered open and the hazy blue orbs focused on Kara.

"Little one?"

"Hush, it's me, you're going to be okay Astra." Kara's voice throbbed with emotion as she knelt down and scooped her Aunt up into her arms, standing up and settling Astra in her arms more carefully she took a second to look at Alex before she launched up into the sky, possibly not as fast as she was capable of, but certainly fast enough that she was nothing but a red and blue blur.

Alex vaguely realised that Hank is speaking, she'd been too focused on watching her sister vanish into the inky dark sky to take in what was going on in the immediate vicinity and she mentally scolds herself for loosing focus.

"The helicopter is on its way back, you go on ahead; I'll deal with clean up here." Hank stepped up beside her and put a gentle hand on her elbow, pulling her out of her momentary mental dislocation and bringing her back to reality.

Alex could only nod her response as she felt herself go through the motions of putting her gun back in its holster, watching as Hank made his way across the open wind swept space to the body of the Kryptonian she had killed.

Her fingers had the slightest tremble to them as the full day's events fell on her, the weight of everything she had been through crashed down on her, going into Kara's subconscious to rescue her from the Black Mercy, the emotional sledge hammer that came with realizing her sister may not have ever really been happy here on earth, that somehow she hadn't been a good enough sister to Kara.

The sound of the rotor blades of the Helicopter and the cold blast of air that announced its arrival made her look up, her short hair battering about her face as she watched it come to a hover just above the wreckage of the car-park.

With a deep steadying breath Alex sprinted across the space, keeping hunched over until she could climb into the back of the helicopter and strap herself in, a tightness curling in her chest.

The night wasn't over yet, she still had work to do.


	2. Chapter 2

Hello, Lovelies, these still not be my words. I'm simply beta, editor, and happy buffer between a sensitive soul and rejection. Enjoy, and leave my girl some love. :)

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The DEO was a mess. Considering it was normally well ordered chaos, Alex felt the tension fall on her skin like an itchy blanket. Techs and soldiers swarmed through the place like someone had just poured boiling water on an ants' nest.

Pushing through a cluster of techs, she made her way into the vaulted main room and found Vasquez pacing back and forth behind the banks of computers. Normally Hank and Alex would stand there, pacing back and forth, barking orders, watching the operations unfold while Vasquez worked her magic on the keyboards; but now the seasoned technical wizard was the one doing the pacing, watching the monitors, biting her lower lip and planting her hands on her hips.

"Vasquez?!"

"Ma'am!"

"Report?"

"No further contact with the hostiles, ma'am. Director Henshaw is still on site taking care of after action clean up."

Alex could only nod her reply as she quickly scanned the banks of computer screens in front of her, gleaning all the information she can from them before she turned and headed towards the surgical bay.

As she turned down into the stark grey corridor just outside of the surgery bay she saw Kara, pacing away towards the end of the corridor before turning back, her red cape swishing about her heels as she turned sharply back, her arms crossed low over her stomach, clasping her own elbows as if holding herself together.

Alex felt her heart break to see her sister so distraught, no matter what had happened in their lives, Kara had always been the optimist, always looking on the bright side, Cat Grant secretly called her 'Sunny Danvers' and it was meant to be disparaging but Alex had always thought it was rather apt.

Kara never let the horrible things that had happened to her dampen her spirit.

But in one turn of events Kara had been given back her family, her real family, her real home, only to have it cruelly torn away from her.

And now again; fate was conspiring to have her one remaining family member ripped from her.

Alex felt a kind of steely determination set into her tired and sore body, Kara was not going to lose anyone, not if Alex had anything to do with it.

Kara finally registered Alex's presence at the end of the hall and her face crumpled. Her whole persona as Supergirl crumbled away and she dashed down the hall and practically tackled Alex in a near bone breaking embrace, wrapping her arms around Alex and dropping her head onto her sisters shoulder, hot wet tears almost instantly falling to dampen Alex's standard DEO issued polo.

"Alex," Kara sobbed, the rest of her sentence lost to her tears.

Alex felt her own eyes burn but Kara came before her own feelings so she tamped down on her tears, took a breath and held her sister as tightly as she could, feeling Kara shake and tremble in her arms as she cries.

"They wouldn't let me in," Kara finally managed to stutter out through her tears, her face turned to press into Alex's neck.

"It's the kryptonite Kara; you can't go in there, not while she's in surgery and not with Kryptonite in the room."

"She can't die Alex."

Kara's words are practically burned across the bare skin of Alex's neck, and she closed her own eyes tightly as she pressed her hands more firmly into Kara's shoulders, hoping her sister can feel the pressure and is comforted by it.

She couldn't tell Kara that it was a very real possibility that Astra won't survive. The blade was imbedded deep and it was in a very dangerous place, removing a blade from an ordinary human was tricky enough, but a knife made from a lethal substance? A substance that was slowly weakening the victim every second it remained in their body.

The odds were not good.

Astra was strong and healthy but she had lost a lot of blood and it wasn't as if they had any Kryptonian blood handy to use for transfusions.

Alex felt a sigh welling up inside her, she knew Kara needed to hear something positive, something hopeful something to cling to in order to make it through the next few hours of uncertainty but she wasn't sure she had the right words, she wasn't an optimist by nature, she was a realist, but she had always tried to keep Kara's bright innocent outlook on life intact.

Maybe it made Kara a little naïve but it also made her Supergirl; that unwavering belief.

"I'm going to do everything I can Kara, I promise." Alex squeezed her sister as tightly as she could, Kara might have been the girl of steel but she had always been soft, at least when she remembered to relax; but right now she was like solid brick, there was no give in her skin or in her muscles and Alex winced a little as Kara's arms squeezed around her rib cage a little more firmly than normal.

"I can't lose her too Alex, please, please save her."

Alex couldn't promise that she will, the words she wanted to say sounding false and hollow in her mind, dying on her tongue before they could even form, so instead she gave Kara the tightest hug she could muster before pulling back a little from the embrace; wrapping her sister's wet cheeks in her hands she brushed her thumbs under Kara's red rimmed eyes, swiping away the dribbling tears.

Without a word she let Kara go and took a hold of her hand, pulling her sister down the corridor to the lone chair that sets right outside the operating room.

Carefully, with years of practise she gently but firmly maneuvered Kara to sit in the chair, pulling and tugging and shifting her dirt smudged cape until it was wrapped around Kara like a blanket.

Kara curled in on herself, as much as possible on the small chair, the scrunched up Supergirl outfit making her look much bulkier than Alex knew she was and she felt her throat close over with a sob that just wanted to break loose at the expression on her sisters face.

Dropping down on her haunches she reached up and pressed a hand to the centre of Kara's chest, over the top of the "S" emblazoned across it and holding Kara's gaze, saying without words all the things she wanted to say.

The expression on Kara's face shifted and the smallest of tugs at the corner of her lips hinted at a sad smile. She nodded her head in silent understanding of everything Alex just hadn't said.

Taking a deep breath and no small amount of hope from the warmth radiating out from under that "S"; Alex stood up and strode as confidently as she could into the operating room.

Kara tried to stay seated but she couldn't. Her emotions were all over the place and her mind was racing, her already accelerated heart beat thundering in her chest, and she tried desperately not to hear what was going on behind the now closed doors of the operating room.

She _felt_ the kryptonite, even though it was only a small blade and over ten feet away. It was imbedded in her aunts body, and that thought alone made her stomach roil and clench. It made her feel twice as sick, she doesn't even want to consider what it was doing to Astra.

Astra, her aunt, her beautiful stubborn aunt, fighting for her life on a planet were she was invincible.

She stood up and began to pace again, her mind whirring and her heart thundering. She tried to focus on the sound of her own heart and her own breathing because she was terrified of what she was going to hear if she extended her hearing.

It might have only be minutes or hours later but Vasquez appeared with her customary professionalism firmly in place. Whatever she might have been feeling about the night's events had not reveal itself on her face, and as she approached Kara with a quick stride, Kara was grateful for the woman's presence but also her competence. She had not wanted sympathy or pity, she hadn't wanted people looking at her like they did when she first arrived, like she was some broken little bird.

Kara noticed the quick look Vasquez shot towards the closed doors but didn't say anything when the woman finally stopped in front of her, her sharp eyes taking in Kara's appearance with a quick sweep before she began to speak, "Ma'am, I thought you might like an update?"

"Ye, yes, please." Her voice emptied out of her, shaky and trembling and she cleared her throat as she crossed her arms over her chest in her best attempt at her usual Supergirl pose, trying to take comfort in the familiar action.

"Director Henshaw is twenty minutes out, the other teams have reported back with only minor injuries."

"Good, that's… that's good." She nodded firmly but her focus wasn't really on the information Vasquez was relaying to her. She bit the inside of her bottom lip even as her gaze slipped and unfocused for a moment.

"Ma'am?"

"Hmmm?"

"Do you need anything, Ma'am?" Kara's eyes focused again on the young woman in front of her and she noted that there was none of the sympathy she was expecting to see, no pity, just a soft concern.

"No, thank you, Vasquez."

With a curt nod, Vasquez turned and headed back out into the main body of the DEO facility, probably to wait for Hank to arrive and receive new instructions.

As soon as she was out of sight Kara's arms slipped from across her chest to her abdomen and then finally to her sides, she didn't know what to do with herself, with her body, her arms felt like lead, hanging limp and useless at her sides.

That was how she felt, useless.

She should have been faster, she should have been better; she should have dealt with Non decisively.

Alex should never have had to face down Astra by herself; she should never have been put in that position, but somehow Alex had done what Kara couldn't, she'd made Astra renounce her crusade, give it up, make a different choice.

Kara hung her head and slumped, her shoulders dropping as she felt new fresh tears threatening to burn their way out and slide down her cheeks. She trudged back over to the chair and dropped down into it, hearing its spindly metal frame groan and creak.

Her chin fell towards her chest, and she cried. Raking her hands back through her falling hair, she clutched at her head, digging her nails in as she sobbed.

Astra had been there, in that dream, The Black Mercy. Astra was there and she wasn't an enemy, she was the woman Kara remembered, warm and affectionate, she was her family again and then Alex had come and torn her perfect world away from her, with her mother and father and Kal and Astra.

She wasn't angry at Alex for that, she wasn't even hurt by it; she knew that Alex probably was, they were going to have to talk about that at some later point and Kara would have to explain, but…

Suddenly her hearing spiked and even though she had been trying so hard not to focus on the sounds in the other room this one came through crystal clear, like a siren.

The heart rate monitor was registering flat line... no heartbeat.

"NO!"

Kara was out of her seat instantly and possibly with too much force but she didn't care, she stormed towards the doors intending to tear them off their hinges, nothing was going to keep her from her Aunt, not even kryptonite.

But in the space of a few steps there was the unmistakable sound of a beep and then another and as she stopped dead still Kara concentrated, closed her eyes and focused and sure enough, she heard it, it was slow, slower than normal for a Kryptonian, but it was steady.

Astra's heartbeat.

A strangled sob escaped her and her tears fell in earnest as everything she had been trying to hold in spilled out of her.

One arm wrapped itself across her stomach and the other came up to cover her mouth as she continued to cry, huge chest constricting sobs that made her whole body shake but she couldn't stop herself. In that empty grey hallway, she wasn't Supergirl, she wasn't the girl of steel, she wasn't a hero.

She was just a girl whose only family was fighting for life… and fighting to save that life.

Kara turned back around to the chair and found it was now embedded a good two inches into the concrete wall, she wanted to laugh and a strange sound managed to escape her, something between a sob and a giggle, it was just so typical of the way things seemed to be going.

She felt tired and drained and a wreck and she really wanted to go lay under the solar lamps and recharge. There was an ache between her shoulder blades that was either from her fight with her uncle or from carrying the weight of the satellite dish – she wasn't sure which – and the whole emotional roller-coaster she had been on for the past few hours just crashed into her like a freight train.

But she wasn't leaving, not now, she couldn't, her family needed her.

Sniffling and wiping at her cheeks, she tugged on her cape and wrapped it around herself. Heading down the hall way a little to where it ended, turning her back to the cold concrete, she slid down and pulled her knees to her chest, resting her head against the wall beside her and pulling her cape around her. She wanted to sleep, she wanted to just shut her eyes and wake up from this horrible night, but this wasn't The Black Mercy. This was reality.

And no matter what happened in the next few hours, she was going to have to live with it.

Curling up as tightly as she could, Kara stared at the door way and began reciting prayers to Rao she had learned as a child and a few she had learned here on earth, she was willing to ask any deity who listened to save Astra.


	3. Chapter 3

Hello, Lovelies!

So, my friend had this written for a while, and I admit to being a little bum-tastic with how long it's taken to get this edited and churned out because I'm trying not to panic with pending doom of our very own fuck-cheeto president, which by the way is how this whole story started. My beautiful, Australian baby started telling me this story every night to keep me from self-destructing as I'm apt to do. So, love on her extra and let her know what you think. :)

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That's how Hank found her a short while later, looking heart-wrenchingly broken and small, like a little girl wrapped in her blanket.

He knew better than most that Kara was made of steel and not just physically. She was strong in all the ways it counted, despite everything that had happened to her or perhaps because of it, she had a will of iron and a heart of gold. But seeing her like that made him think of how she must have looked when she first crashed on this strange world, waking up from the dark depths of the timeless Phantom zone to realize everyone and everything she knew was gone.

Her eyes looked a little vacant and distant, like she was staring through the solid concrete wall he had just passed and maybe she was, in an effort not to sit staring at what was going on in the operating theatre. He saw how red and puffy her eyes were even from this distance and then there was the metal chair embedded in the wall.

Maintenance was going to be thrilled about that.

Without a word he walked over to Kara as slowly as he could, not wanting to startle her, but it seemed she had heard him approach and her dark blue eyes refocused and settled on him, her gaze steady and unwavering.

Hank mimicked Kara's position, sliding down the wall so he was on her left hand side, pulling his knees up a little and resting his arms on them so his hands dangled, turning his head to look at Kara who had watched him this whole time with an almost detached expression. With a gentle sigh, Hank shifted and put his arm over Kara's shoulder, sliding it across her cape and down her opposite arm and tugging gently, encouraging Kara to change her position as well.

And for a moment he thought she wasn't going to comply, but slowly, she turned a little and rested her golden blonde head on his shoulder, nestling there against his side. A soft sad smile formed on his lips and he rubbed his hand up and down Kara's upper arm as he turned to rest his cheek on the top of her head. As far as Hank Henshaw was concerned, when Kara Zor-El Danvers smiled, the whole world smiled; she was bright and bubbly and brought light and warmth and happiness with her wherever she went. She was like the very sun itself, her presence filled a room with light and warmth and there wasn't a person alive who couldn't be affected by it, himself included.

And seeing her like this, so crushed, so sad and worn and weary from carrying the literal weight of the world on her slim young shoulders made him feel like everything had turned grey, as though dark stormy rain clouds had come to steal her light.

His two personas were in agreement, Hank Henshaw and J'onn Jones would never let anything dampen Kara's inner light, never let anything happen to this marvellous soul who had already claimed a piece of his heart. He had made Jeremiah Danvers a promise that fateful night, a promise he had every intention of keeping, to his dying breath. The DEO had given him a purpose, but Alex and Kara had given him hope and belonging and that was something he had thought he lost when his world burned.

Kara shifted against him, tucking one of her hands against her own chest and turning to face him a little more, shifting so she was more tightly nestled against him, without thinking Hank squeezed her upper arm again, feeling the muscles loosen and relax under his touch. The paternal side of him felt a swell in his chest and he couldn't help but smile a little as Kara settled more comfortably against him, her natural warmth seeping into him.

Vasquez rounded the far corner of the hall at that moment and stopped in her tracks, looking from the Director to Supergirl with a wide eyed expression that quickly died and was smoothed back down, absorbing the sight of the Director sitting on the concrete floor with Supergirl with the calm acceptance with which she made sense of the world. Clearing her throat softly, she turned and made to leave but Hank waved her over with his free hand. He knew Kara wasn't asleep, he could feel it in the way her body tensed at Vasquez's arrival, the shuddering intake of breath and the soft ripple that seemed to run through her body, almost as though she was suddenly cold.

Vasquez cast her brown eyes onto Supergirl for a second as she dropped down onto her haunches on Hank's other side, holding out the tablet she was carrying and offering it to him.

"We're still working on that device you were able to bring in, sir," she said softly, noticing that Supergirl was paying attention even if she didn't give away too many outward signs.

"I want everyone not working on clean up working on that device."

"Yes sir, also, General Lane is on his way, it'll be a few hours before he arrives but he wants a debrief on the operation."

Hank heaved a sigh and nodded, handing the tablet back to Vasquez before he ran his hand over his face, "Thank you, I'll deal with him when he arrives."

"Would you like me to keep you updated on his ETA sir?"

Hank looked from his agent to Kara and rubbed his hand down her arm, "I'll be out there soon."

"Yes sir," Vasquez nodded and stood up swiftly, heading back down the hall and pressing on her earpiece as she disappeared out of view.

Neither Kara nor Hank said anything or moved at least not for another ten minutes or so, they just continued to sit there, Kara with her head resting on his shoulder taking long slow breaths.

"You should go," Kara's voice finally broke the silence. It didn't sound like her, not the strong commanding tone of Supergirl or Kara's more natural bright enthusiastic lilt; it was soft and small sounding.

Hank wanted to say no, he wanted to tell her he didn't have anywhere else to be but right here, with her, helping her, but they both knew better. He sighed and squeezed her arm again turning so he could plant the softest of kisses on her golden head.

"If you need me…"

"I know where you'll be."

Heaving a heavy sigh, he extricated himself from Kara, withdrawing his arm back from over her shoulders and then got to his feet, looking down at her as she shifted herself so she was cuddled up into the corner again, her head bent towards the wall beside her.

"Your Aunt is strong Kara, just like her niece, she'll pull through."

Kara only nodded.

After one last long look, he turned and strode away, praying that Astra didn't make a liar out of him. And that was a strange thing to be hoping for.

It would be an hour or more before any one emerged from the operating theatre, a single nurse carrying a solid looking metal box. Her appearance was enough to launch Kara to her feet, like a cat suddenly springing up from a late afternoon doze. Her sudden movement caught the young woman off guard slightly and Kara heard her heart beat spike and then settle again when she recognised the blonde headed form that just unravelled itself into a full standing position in less than a second.

Kara took one look at the solid looking box the woman was carrying and instantly knew what it was, she couldn't see through it obviously, but she knew what was inside it and just the thought made her shiver and her insides turn cold. The young woman gave her the briefest of nods before she turned and strode away out of view and Kara found herself counting her steps or perhaps the seconds before others emerged.

One nurse, then the gurney, then another nurse as Astra was finally wheeled out of surgery and Kara's strangled intake of breath turned into a sob at the sight of her, pale and sickly in the harsh white overhead lights.

There was an IV in her arm and a cannula in her nose. Her usually curled, dark hair with its contrasting white streak was lank and lacklustre as it framed her face and Kara failed to pull up a single memory of a time her aunt had looked so weak, so very pale.

"Astra," Kara choked out the name as she tried to fall into step with the gurney, but then Alex was there, taking her elbow gently and pulling her back.

"Kara."

Kara's fingers twisted themselves into knots all of their own accord and she tried to stop it by reaching out for her sister who instantly took her hand in both of hers and pulled Kara into an embrace.

"She… she isn't…." Kara couldn't form the words, she couldn't finish her sentence because the idea of it was just too overwhelming.

"She's not out of the woods yet, she lost a lot of blood and she had a lot of internal trauma and the Kryptonite has weakened her immune system. She's incredibly weak right now, that's the only reason we could even get an IV in her arm." Alex explained as gently as possible without going into the unnecessary doctor details that Kara most definitely had not needed to hear.

Kara only nodded and clutched at Alex and tried to control the hiccupping sobs escaping from her. Her throat felt closed over and her lungs weren't processing oxygen properly and the only thing keeping her on her feet was Alex's slim but sturdy frame holding her tight, keeping her steady, keeping her together.

"What… what can I do?"

"We're putting her in the recovery room under the sun lamps, actually we're gonna flood the place with solar lamps so, you go and sit with her and soak up some sun and recuperate." Alex leaned back a little and took her sisters face in her hands, sweeping her thumbs across her puffy cheeks to wipe away the tears and looking her sister in the eye with a soft warm smile.

"You saved her."

"Not yet, the next few hours… if she makes it through the next few hours." Alex shook her head with a sigh, her brown eyes glistening with a sadness that Kara wasn't used to seeing.

"Thank you."

"Oh honey I didn't do…"

But Kara just reached up and took her sister's face in both hands and gently rested her forehead against Alex's, closing her eyes against a fresh wave of tears. "Thank you Alex."

Alex wasn't entirely sure what Kara was thanking her for, thanking her for The Black Mercy, for sparing Astra, for choosing to believe, for using all her skills to give Astra a fighting chance. It could have been all or none of those, but Kara's voice was barely above a whisper and it trembled as it washed over Alex's face. She took a slow deep breath, and nodded.

Another moment passed before Kara had the strength and self-control to relinquish her hold on Alex and move back slightly, smiling at her when Alex opened her eyes and just nodded in understanding.

"Go, I'll be with Hank if you need me." Alex's voice was constricted and tight as she tried to hold back her own tears and keep the smile on her face for Kara's sake, trying to be the strong big sister that Kara needed her to be.

Kara nodded and wiped her palms across her cheeks, swiped at the last remaining tears glistening on her eyelashes and then stepped back, straightening her shoulders and giving a more decisive nod. Her Supergirl persona pushed forward and settled on her like the cape about her shoulders. With a last shared look, Kara strode away and out of sight heading to the recovery room leaving Alex to steady herself, brush her hair back behind her ears and take another long slow breath.

She was exhausted, mentally, physically, emotionally, every possible way a human being could be tired. She felt it, but she couldn't sleep, not yet, there was still so much going on, so much that needed doing and Kara… Kara would need her. Rubbing a hand over the back of her neck, turning her head from side to side and feeling the muscles and sinew tighten with each movement, she sighed and took a moment to collect her thoughts and square away her emotions in the little boxes she had learned to build. If she had the time she might have actually analysed some of her feelings, looked at what had transpired and examined it carefully, but she was tired, sore and too emotionally exhausted for that kind of thing. She just needed to focus and keep pushing forward.

And with that thought, she straightened her shoulders, put her comm back in her ear and headed back out into the main rotunda.

Hank cast a quick glance across the open space of the rotunda as Astra was wheeled past and into one of the smaller rooms which had been dubbed the recovery room by a few of the staff since it was the place that Supergirl was usually brought to after one of her closer brushes with mortality. He watched silently as Supergirl appeared a few moments later, her red cape fluttering at her heels as she strode briskly across the space without a glance at any one, an almost stern determination to her expression. It wasn't her usual expression, that was confidence, control, set jawed kind of determination. This expression was different, it was almost a play on her usual demeanour, as if this expression covered up for something else.

She was putting on a brave face, something Hank was all too familiar with.

With a shake of his head he noticed Alex re-enter the rotunda and turned his attention back to the matters at hand, "Agent Danvers."

"Sir?"

"Report."

Kara wasn't entirely sure what to do with herself.

The techs had put up extra solar lamps so the room was flooded with warm yellow light from all directions, it felt like standing out in the middle of a meadow in the height of summer, sunshine bearing down on you from all sides.

And in the centre of the room, where the normal solar bed would have been set up was Astra, the crisp white sheets and hospital gown glowing in the yellow lights that were set up nearest to her. They hadn't hung the usual light rig above her, instead it seemed some poor tech had spent the time Astra was in surgery rigging up solar lamps across the entire ceiling, lowering them enough to be effective but not so low as to get in the way of any life-saving efforts that might need to happen.

Kara stood in the door way of the room, one hand holding the frame tightly as she took in the sight of Astra, laid out like that, with a halo of light surrounding her and felt that heaviness settle in her chest again, felt her throat almost close over. The yellow sun rejuvenated Astra, helped speed her recovery, flooded her cells with radiation and heal her wounds, but seeing her like that only made Kara think of how close she had come to being called to Rao's embrace, how things could have gone so very differently if it wasn't for Alex.

Swallowing down the lump forming in her throat, Kara took a shuddering breath and as she took her first proper step into the room, she noticed Astra's eyes flutter. It was barely noticeable, certainly not to anyone without supervision. It lasted less than a second, a nano-second but Kara saw it and her heart swelled, it wasn't much, but it was something.

Without hesitation, Kara walked into the room feeling the solar lamps' light wash over her like a warm breeze, and she sighed contentedly as she slipped onto the side of Astra's bed and shifted until she had made herself comfortable, her long red cape flowing down beside her as she let her feet dangle a little and kept her sharp blue gaze on Astra's face. Faltering only a little, Kara reached out and took one of Astra's hands in her own, pulling it into her lap and resting one hand above the wrist, the other cradled Astra's hand gently, as if she was made of porcelain and might break at Kara's touch. She was surprised to feel how cold Astra's skin was, as she brushed her thumb across the back of her Aunt's hand tenderly, like she remembered Astra doing for her when she was little.

It felt wrong for Astra to be cold, even before they came to earth, before their powers, Kara had only ever thought of Astra as being warm to the touch – her hugs, her smiles, everything about her Aunt had been warm and affectionate.

Kara's face folded into a frown as she looked down at her Aunt's pale visage, her dark curls framing her face, the single streak of white shimmering out from underneath the tangle of brown. Sniffling slightly Kara reached over and brushed back some wayward strands of Astra's hair.

It wasn't right for Astra to be so pale either.


	4. Chapter 4

And I've managed to inspire another chapter for this from my friend. She's the same lovely person who assists me with Cat Grant dialogue, so be leave her some love so I can get another few chapters out of her! Enjoy, My Loves!

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"You've always been there, even… even when… things haven't been right between us, this whole Supergirl thing and you… and what happened back home and what you were planning here. And Non, he's still going through with it, he told me, when he wasn't punching me in the face." Kara tried to keep her voice low and soothing, tried to remember the soft melodious tones her mother would use whenever she was upset or scared, the same voice her Aunt possessed, the same soft loving tones, slightly deeper when spoken by her aunt, but still retaining all of the warmth.

She wanted Astra to hear that, the lightness, the warmth, she didn't want her voice to be tinged with cynical irony or bitterness or anger. She wanted Astra to know that she wasn't angry any more, she was… she wasn't sure, but she knew it wasn't anger.

"But… you've always been so strong, stronger than I ever realized before… I was always so proud of you, so… so happy that you were my aunt, the great General Astra… and you were my family. You've always been my family Astra, even with everything that's happened…I want you to know that… and that I'm proud of you… not for what you wanted to do… and we can talk about that… but proud that you changed your mind… I know it's not easy to change our minds once we've set out to do something… we're a stubborn bunch." She laughed softly, the sound strangled slightly by the tightness in her throat as she continued to speak to her aunt's pale still form, brushing the back of her fingers down Astra's cheek.

"You never lied to me… Alex said you might have lied about what happened back home… lied about what was happening here but… you never lied, not when I was little, not when Krypton was dying and nobody was doing anything about it… when you… when mom sent you away… I tried to ask her about it, about what you told me, but she… she just told me not to worry… she wasn't lying… she just didn't want to scare me… not then… not before she'd had a chance to do whatever it was she was planning on doing…"

Now that she started it was easier to talk, even if Astra couldn't respond, it was easier to speak and get out the words she'd really wanted to say to Astra, ever since she first encountered her, since that first week of being Supergirl, when this whole ordeal really started.

"And even in the darkness… even in the Phantom Zone, you were there, neither one of us knew it… I was asleep… but Fort Rozz was nearby, floating with me, so in a way, you were, too… that's… weirdly comforting… in a slightly messed up way." She smiled sadly and even though it felt like she had no more tears to cry, she felt them slip down her cheeks.

"You were there, and I need you here now Astra, I can't fight this on my own… I don't even know what this is! I don't understand what you and Non were trying to do, but… I know I can't stop him without help, Alex and Hank and the DEO they are great, they've been doing this since before me, since before Supergirl but… I know Non… I know you… at least… I always thought I did and I know, deep down that this isn't something they can stop… you… you were always… unstoppable, unyielding and the fact that you stopped, that means something.

"But… I need you Astra, now more than ever, you wanted us to be a family again and we can be, we can, I just… I need you to wake up okay? Please, please don't leave me again." Kara held down her sobs and felt her face scrunch as she tried to control her tears, taking Astra's pale hand in her own she shifted until she could lay down on her side, her cape over her middle and dangling over the side of the bed as she shifted and maneuvered herself into as comfortable a position as she could without disturbing her Aunt. It was a snug fit on the slim bed, but Kara had always been able to curl herself into small spaces.

With the sun lamps beating down on her and the slower than normal, much more human-paced beating of her aunt's heart, Kara felt her exhaustion finally settle on her like a heavy blanket and she couldn't really think of a reason to fight it any more. Her eye lids drooped and opened several times as she tried, but eventually, exhaustion won out.

Alex sighed deeply, running a hand through her hair and drawing a slow breath in, trying to stave off a headache and the bone deep exhaustion attempting to consume her and drag her down to the cold concrete floor beneath her feet.

Standing beside Hank at the situation table, leaning most of her weight against it with her hip, she relayed Astra's medical situation to him with the least amount of doctor's jargon she could, trying to conceal her tiredness from the agents moving around them as best she could but knowing the battle was lost with Hank when she finally looked him square in the face and saw the frown of concern on his face. Most people assumed that was his standard expression, but over the years she had worked with him, she had come to read him better than most. Even after learning about his non-earthly origins, she liked to think she knew him better than anyone; he looked at her the same way Eliza would look at her when she found out Alex had been up for days cramming for exams. Parental concern apparently looked the same on everyone.

"Alex?"

"I'm fine, Sir, just, it's… it's been a really long day."

"Yes, it has," He nodded, that small frown deepening slightly before it smoothed out a little.

"Astra's stable for now but that could change in a heartbeat, the next few hours are crucial to her long-term recovery. That much Kryptonite exposure over a prolonged period of time, we have no idea if it's going to affect her powers at all. Her biology might be altered, we just don't know enough to be certain."

Hank nodded gravely, his arms shifting from across his barrel like chest to lean one on the table in front of him and run the other over his face before he shifted his weight and settled himself on the table, both arms resting on it.

"And Supergirl?"

"Devastated, physically I think she just needs a few solid hours of sunlight and about fifteen thousand calories, but emotionally she, she's holding up."

Hank nodded again, and for a brief moment, Alex saw the same expression on his face that she had seen on Kara's on multiple occasions when they were younger, profound sadness, a sadness and loss and devastation that no one else alive could really comprehend.

A comfortable silence settled on them for a few minutes, neither one feeling the need to break it even though there was still a lot to be said, a lot to be done and a lot to process but they had been on the go since that morning, since they found Kara unconscious in her apartment with the Black Mercy on her chest, so much had happened in such a short span of time that they hadn't had a moment to stop, think, evaluate and recharge.

Now, with the lull in the storm they took a minute or two, Hank's dark eyes watching the movements of his agents as they went about their duties with calm proficiency. Alex took calming steadying breaths, trying to reign in her emotions and put them all into boxes like she had been trained. She could cry and break down and drink herself into a stupor when this was all over, when Astra was safely out of the woods and on her way to recovering, when Kara was again smiling and happy and tucked in safe on her couch with soft cuddly blankets and pizza and Netflix.

"We're not out of the woods yet," Hank finally voiced what they had both been thinking and Alex nodded, took a moment to consider her words and then shook her head.

"Sir, General Lane doesn't have the authority to remove prisoners from our facility, and even if he did, Kara would never allow it,"

"I know, Alex, but if he arrives with a presidential order in hand, there won't be anything I can do about it."

"Hank, he… what he did to her the last time, when you were… he used liquid Kryptonite to try and get her to talk. It was blatant torture and I… I cannot, I will not allow a person, any person, under my charge to be hauled off god-knows-where to have god-knows-what done to them. Astra will not survive an interrogation. She will barely survive transportation let alone anything else he might have planned for her." Alex's sharp features hardened as her tone changed, lowering so that only Hank could hear her, but the sharp edges of it, the harsh snap of anger, could be discerned just in the way her spine straightened and her body tensed, as though gearing up for a fight.

"Alex," Hank's voice sighed out of him, and his eyes turned to dark pools of sympathy and understanding, his expression was softer than he usually allowed people to see.

"I will not let my sister lose anyone else, not after tonight, not after I…." Alex felt her throat begin to close over as she recalled being inside Kara's mind, seeing Krypton through her sister's eyes—her home, Argos city shining like a beacon outside the windows, the towering structures, the warm soft tones of oranges that Kara had always tried to describe to her and had never been able to find the words, Kara's family, alive and well, standing beside her.

"You saved her life Alex." Hank stood up and reached out to put a gentle hand on her shoulder, his thumb rubbing a circle pattern across the joint even as he gave her shoulder a little shake, as though trying to shake the truth of those words into her.

"I… I know… but I… I tore her world apart, she was happy, she had her family back, her home, her world, and I…."

"You did what you had to do to save your sister, she knows that, she understands."

"I won't let her lose anyone else, Hank."

"I know. I also know that General Lane will be here in less than an hour, so whatever you're going to do, do it quickly, quietly and don't think it too loudly." He gave her a small hidden smile, one last shake of the shoulder before he walked passed her towards a group of techs who had been trying to get his attention discreetly.

Heaving a deep breath Alex ran a hand through her hair again as she tried to formulate a plan of action, her brain was fogged and it felt like it took forever for her thoughts to form but she glanced around and took stock of her situation and as she did her eyes fell on Vasquez, walking passed with her usual determined gait and tablet held firmly in hand, and something of an actionable plan started to take shape in her brain.

With the smallest of smiles, she jogged over to Vasquez and slipped up beside her casually. "How'd you like to help with a little covert assignment, Vasquez?"

 _"_ _Please Aunt Astra? Just one more time?" Kara gave her aunt her best pouty face and used her big blue eyes to her advantage, looking beseechingly at her in the hopes of getting her way._

 _Astra sighed a soft warm laugh and gave her head a shake, looking at her niece's pouty bottom lip and wondering to herself when had General Astra In-Ze gotten so soft?_

 _With an adoring smile, she shook her head again and gave Kara a raised eyebrow look which only made the young girl's pout more pronounced._

 _"_ _Oh, very well, but your mother is going to be furious with me if you don't get enough sleep,"_

 _Kara merely grinned and wriggled to make herself comfortable under the blankets of her bed in her Aunt's home, most of the living quarters were rather minimalistic and austere but Kara's room was the most- decorated and lived-in. Kara always had wondered why but simply assumed it was because her Aunt was always off-world or deployed somewhere and was hardly ever home long enough to have accumulated many things._

 _Astra chuckled gently and slipped off her shoes, sliding gracefully onto the bed beside Kara, resting atop the white covers in her obsidian black robes, a stark contrast that always struck Kara, much like the streak of white that now ran through her Aunt's dark brown curls._

 _Kara snuggled up into her Aunt's side tightly, humming happily in her throat as she settled into Astra's warmth and nuzzled her face against her chest, resting her cheek there and breathing deeply the singular scent of her. Astra always smelled faintly of spices, foreign flowers and the hot tang of metal. Kara wasn't sure what it was exactly, different from her mother but still nice. It still brought the same content feeling of safety and warmth and home._

 _Astra shifted to make herself comfortable and wrapped an arm around Kara's shoulders, settling her niece against her and smiling down at her, pressing a kiss to the crown of her head._

 _"_ _Ready?" Astra whispered and felt Kara nod against her tilting her head back to look up at Astra with one of those blinding smiles that always made Astra's heart ache just a little._

 _She opened the palm of her hand to reveal a small crystal, and without a word, it began to glow. A display illuminated the ceiling above their heads, bathing the room in the soft swirling lights of galaxies far away and spiralling constellations._

 _Kara smiled softy as she looked up at the stars above them, listening to the stories Astra spun. Her soft melodic voice was soothing, rising and falling with the telling of her tales. Some of them were obvious and fanciful, made for little children. Being that she was of the House of El, a House of scientists, Kara knew how stars were really formed. She knew how stellar bodies functioned, she was going to be the youngest member of the science guild after all._

 _But, there was something so very comforting about Astra's stories, whether or not there was any truth to them, it was in the telling, the way she spoke, the softness of her voice, the way she would always hold Kara close as though this was a secret to be shared just between them, the way her fingers would run through Kara's hair gently…_

That was the first feeling to come back to Kara as her body slowly dragged itself from its exhausted slumber back into the lands of consciousness. Fingers, long and dextrous, tangled in her hair. Short nails gently scraped her scalp as her brain and body both tried to understand what was happening.

Warmth was the second thing that registered—warmth beneath her cheek, heavy warmth covering her legs, the soft gentle body encompassing heat of sunlight pouring over her.

As her brain and body seemed to finally fall into sync and roused her into semi alertness, she drew a deep breath and instantly recognised the scent filling her nostrils, she would never ever be able to forget it.

"Astra?" Kara's voice seemed to rumble up out of her from the depths of her chest as she finally opened her eyes, blinking them open and closed several times as she remembered where she was, what had happened, the need for the sunlamps bathing them in warm yellow light, causing her eyes to burn a little when she finally did open them properly and tilt her head back to look up into her Aunt's face.

"Little one."

Astra's voice was nothing but a croaked whisper, cracking a little with disuse, but Kara immediately snapped awake, full consciousness barrelling into her like a semi-trailer. Her eyes widened as she almost fell backwards off the small slim hospital bed.

"Oh, by Rao, Astra."

Kara managed to get her body to co-operate with her and sat up, sliding off the bed as best she could without her knees giving out on her. Despite the sleep and the sunlight, it seemed her limbs were still not entirely under her control. Astra was still pale but her cheeks were flushed with colour as she looked up at Kara and smiled softly, bemusement and affection settling on her features, her grey eyes warm as she gazed up at Kara.

Astra drew a ragged breath, and Kara felt her own catch in her throat, wondering if she had been putting pressure on her Aunt's chest this whole time and doing more damage to her already battered body, with that panicked thought Kara bit her bottom lip and began to fidget with her fingers, twisting them anxiously.

"I should, I should get a doctor, or Alex. I…."

"No, Kara, please, wait." Astra gave a muted shake of her head, barely a movement at all, but it was enough to keep Kara in place, nodding her head and reaching out for Astra's hand again like she had earlier.

"I'm here, I'm here," she assured softly, voice trembling as she rubbed her thumb across the back of Astra's hand, trying desperately to hold her tears at bay.

Astra's eyes fluttered closed and it seemed to take all her strength to open them again and lick her dry lips. "I'm so happy your sister was able to save you, little one."

Kara nodded and felt tears welling up despite herself. Alex had been incredibly selfless, risking herself like she did to save her from the Black Mercy. Kara had always known her sister was kind and selfless and brave and would always protect her, but this was just more proof that they didn't need to be related by blood to be true sisters.

"She's very brave."

Kara smiled brightly, even with hot tears now forming in her eyes and threatening to fall she felt a surge of pride and affection fill her up, that was high praise coming from General Astra In-Ze.

"Listen to me, Kara. Non… Non cannot be stopped."

"Astra, he, he said something about Myriad, what is it, tell me please."

"It's too late now. He's too strong. If… if you try and stop him, he will kill you and everyone you love."

Kara shook her head as the tears now fell in earnest. Astra's voice was barely more than a shredded whisper as she tried to hold onto consciousness just a little longer, her fingers seeking out Kara's and entwining them, holding as tightly as her weakened grasp allowed.

"Astra, please."

"Little one."

Shinning grey-blue eyes slipped closed as Astra's strength finally gave out and she slipped back into unconsciousness, her head lolling to the side as her grasp on Kara loosened and her body slackened. Kara finally noticed the tension that had been coiling through Astra's still weakened body as she watched it unfurl, but now she relaxed, sinking deeper into the bed. Her breathing evened out, and the little catch and rasp as she drew breath eased.

"Oh Astra, what have you done." Kara breathed as she used her free hand to brush some of the dark cured tangles of hair back from Astra's face, running her fingers over defined cheek bones and cupping her Aunt's jaw as she leaned over her and kissed her forehead softly.

"Rest now, soak up the sun and get better, I…. I need you Astra."


	5. Chapter 5

And here's another, my loves. I promise the angst will end soon, I've seen what my friend has planned.

* * *

"And the Guesthouse?"

"Prepped and ready to go," Vasquez said.

"You're sure about that?" Alex interrupted as they walked towards the recovery room, Alex's eyes scanning about them as discreetly as possible while Vazquez continued to look down at her tablet, her fingers tapping and sliding across its surface as she went about her work looking completely natural and unaffected by the circumstances they found themselves in.

That was something that Alex really admired about the woman, she was rarely flustered or seemed out of her element, she was always calm, collected and her own brand of stoic; vaguely Alex wondered if she ever played poker but put that thought away for another day. Vazquez raised an eyebrow as she looked up from her tablet finally and levelled a look at Alex that rivalled one of Hank's. Alex nodded her head and raked her hand back through her hair, a nervous tick she had never really been able to kick, letting out a steady stream of breath.

"Right, right of course it is," Alex apologized as best she could in that moment.

"Ma'am?"

"This cannot go wrong, Susan, this… this has to work."

"I understand Ma'am."

Alex didn't think she did. She didn't think anyone could understand just how monumental this all was. If this didn't work, if something went wrong at any stage…

With a shake of her head, Alex let those nervous thoughts go, trying to focus her hazy exhausted mind to the task at hand and ignore the fluttering anxiety in her stomach that made her doubt, made her hesitate to take another step forward. Vazquez stopped and watched the fear and anxiety play across the eldest Danvers face for the briefest moment before her brown eyes focused. Her shoulders settled and her features froze into an expression of determination. She'd seen similar displays from both Alex and Supergirl and the smallest of smiles tugged at the corner of her lips. When those two set their minds to something, nothing got in their way of achieving it.

"Right, you know what you have to do?"

"Yes Ma'am."

"And everything is set?"

"Yes Ma'am."

"Okay… okay then… just… don't think too loudly."

"Not a problem Ma'am."

Alex looked at Vazquez with a wry smile for a moment before she gave her one last decisive nod and then strode away towards the recovery room, one hand falling to the pistol still strapped to her thigh almost unconsciously.

She stopped at the door way and leaned against the frame, taking in the sight before her, drawing in a sharp breath at the sight of her little sister with her cape wrapped about her like a blanket, sitting on the edge of the hospital bed one leg bent and resting on the bed, the other dangling down and swinging gently back and forth. Kara's hair shone a bright gold under the yellow light that engulfed the small room. Both Kryptonians seemed to glow under the artificial sunlight.

Kara was shiny, golden and tan but Astra, surrounded by white sheets, seemed to nearly match them with her paler complexion and dark hair cutting through the white of the pillow.

Kara cradled Astra's hand in her lap, her thumb rubbing across the back of her hand softly, tracing circles and patterns into her skin as she spoke, barely above a murmur, in Kryptonese. Alex deciphered a few words; Kara had tried to teach her when she first arrived but that had been a difficult time for the two of them and Alex had been a stubborn angry teenager and the lessons hadn't really stuck and then after a while Kara simply stopped trying.

Alex understood the word "sister" and "proud" and "home" and couldn't help but smile, adoring her little sister and watching quietly for a moment. She really didn't want to break the spell that seemed to have fallen over the two of them, reunited again after so long, after so much conflict and anger and pain, even if Astra was still unconscious. But, she had a job to do, a mission to complete, and in the end, it was for Kara, just like everything else in her life, this was to help her sister.

Clearing her throat to announce her presence she stepped further into the room and walked over to Kara, wrapping an arm over her shoulders as soon as she was close, stepping into the space of her sister's body and digging her fingers into Kara's shoulder in a tight a hug as she could manage in that position.

"I was telling her about you," Kara explained.

"I heard," Alex said, voice low so as not to disturb the sleeping alien.

Kara flushed as she ducked her head a little, and blonde curls fell to hide her face, her eyes never leaving her Aunt's face, fingers still entangled with Astra's.

"I wish… I wish things were different." Kara's voice spilled out of her softly, on a breath, hitching slightly as she tried to hold back her tears.

"I know, sweetheart, so do I." Alex used her free hand to push Kara's fallen strands of hair back behind her ear, brushing the back of her fingers down her sister's cheek.

"She… she always…"

"Shhh, it's okay,"

"Astra… she always… she always made me feel safe, I think… even more then my parents I relied on her for that… that feeling of being safe, of being home."

Alex rubbed her hand up and down Kara's arm and let her talk, let her get out whatever it was that was on her mind. It had been years since Kara had talked about her family, and Alex began to suspect that maybe that was her fault. She had always been pushing Kara to blend in, to just be as human as possible that she hadn't really given her sister an outlet to be herself, to talk openly and honestly about herself, her past, her home.

"My parents… they loved me, I know they did… but they… they were always so busy, even when they were home it was like they weren't? You know? Like when Eliza would get all caught up in her work at the Lab and kinda just..."

"Drift?"

"Yeah, like that, like they were there but they weren't really listening? But Astra… I never felt that way with Astra, when she was home, she was there one hundred percent. I was her entire focus. I'd tell her about things I'd learn in class or on my crystal matrix and she'd listen with rapt attention, like there was nothing else more interesting then what I had to say. I mean, she'd learned it all of course, but she wanted to hear about everything, about everything I'd done while she was gone, even the smallest thing put a smile on her face."

Alex smiled sadly as her eyes drifted from Kara to Astra, sweeping over the defined jaw line and sharp features, relaxed in unconsciousness and she nodded vaguely remembering the intensity of Astra's sharp eyes on her over the times they had interacted, that feeling of not only being seen, but being stripped back and laid bare, someone looking at you so intensely that they seem to see down into the deepest part of you. It provided the final piece of resolve she needed to go through with her plan.

"My whole family is… was… intense… always so focused. My father with his work at the Science Guild, mother with her cases at the Citadel… they took time for me, we'd go on family trips and things, Dad would sometimes take me to places he had to go for the Guild… but… they didn't always seem to be home. Not in the way it was with you guys, with Eliza and Jeremiah and you, family dinners and picnics and days on the beach and learning to swim."

"You used to sink like a rock." Alex's lips pulled up into a smirk as she squeezed Kara's shoulder, her tone soft and teasing.

Kara chuckled and reached up to her eyes as if to adjust glasses that weren't there and then shook her head. "Hey, my body density is different to yours."

"Yeah, that's what you always say, but I don't have super strength."

"Rude."

Alex snorted a laugh and rolled her eyes.

"Anyway… Astra, she always took the time for me. She was always busy. She was a General and on the Military council, but she still… even though her and mom used to fight almost every time they saw one another, they always tried to be civil when I was around, so I never really knew what they were fighting about."

"Sisters fight about everything."

"Yeah, I mean, you used to yell at me for borrowing that jacket."

"It was my favourite, Kara, you knew that."

Kara snorted this time, a joyful sound that gets a little choked with the lingering tears and rawness of her throat but the tears lingering in her eyes make them shine a little brighter, her face softening into a true genuine smile.

"When you asked… when you asked me what I remembered about her, what was stopping me from… that's… that's what I was remembering… the last time I saw her, before she… left… before everything seemed to fall apart."

"Oh honey," Alex wrapped both arms around her sister now, drawing her in sideways and using one hand to guide Kara's head to her chest, rubbing soothingly up her arm and tangling her fingers in her hair, resting her chin against the side of Kara's head.

"She was fleeing, she was going into hiding and I… I needed to see her, I had missed her so much, for months mother wouldn't say her name and everybody was acting so strangely and my whole world… everything was falling apart around me and I needed to see her so badly that when mom suggested I call her, I didn't question it, I didn't ask why, I just did it..."

"Kara,"

"I was thinking about all those times before when I had called Astra and she had come, she had dropped everything and come home, she'd never once not answered, never not come to see me..."

All Alex could do was hold her sister tightly, trying not to think about what it was she was going to do, the plans she had set into motion, the orders she had given, her throat tightened up and her eyes closed as her eyes filled with tears and all she could do was hide her face against her sister's golden hair and cry silently and try not to think about what was going to happen in the next few minutes. But General Lane was coming, and she couldn't stop Astra being turned over to him and probably tortured for the rest of the alien's long life on earth or locked away in a hole to go slowly crazy.

"Astra was the closest thing I had to a best friend before I came here… before you Alex, she was my best friend, my protector, my Aunt, the only person I loved as much as my parents…"

"I know, sweetheart, I know." Alex's voice was nothing more than a choked rasp in her throat that she tried to clear.

"Alex?"

"I'm sorry Kara, it's just been a really long day."

"I know; you're allowed to cry Alex."

"And ruin my badass rep?"

Kara gave a throaty chuckle against Alex's shoulder and sighed deeply, turning her face a little and nestling against her sister a little more, letting her weight rest against her a little more firmly. They stayed like that, wrapped up in one another quietly, not speaking for a few minutes. The only sounds were the heart monitor attached to Astra and the various other machines monitoring her vitals, the soft almost inaudible hum of the solar lights above them.

"I want her back, Alex; I want my family back." Kara whispered out softly into Alex's shoulder and she had to clench her jaw tightly, her lips pursing with the effort it took not to break out into fresh tears at the heartbreaking way her sister spoke, so softly, so quietly, like the scared little girl who had been dropped on her parents' doorstep, alone and vulnerable, confused and broken.

Alex took a deep shuddering breath and just held Kara tighter, "I..."

"Agent Danvers?"

Alex sniffled as she quickly unwrapped herself from her sister. Kara shifted back into her previous position, her face dropping into a bewildered pout, almost like she had forgotten that the rest of the DEO still existed and was confused as to why someone was interrupting their moment.

"Sorry, ma'am, I was hoping to speak to Supergirl for a moment." Vazquez acknowledged the two of them with a nod and her gaze shifted from one sister to the other as she took in the mood of the room for a moment.

"Is General Lane here?" Kara asked, her voice dropping into a deeper tone, the disgust with which she said his name curling her lips into a snarl as she pushed her shoulders back into a straighter position. Her grip on Astra's hand tightened as though afraid she'd be ripped from her grasp at the mere mention of the man.

"He's less then fifteen minutes out, ma'am, but this is about the device Director Henshaw brought back."

Alex folded her arms over her chest as she stayed close to Kara, hovering beside her and watching Kara closely, reading the thoughts and emotions play out across Kara's face as she turned her sharp blue eyes away from Vazquez to Astra.

"I'll stay with her, Supergirl," Alex promised, tears burning the back of her throat.

Kara looked up from her quiet study of her Aunt's face to her sister and after a moment nodded, her expression tight and tense, a crinkle forming between her eyebrows before she turned back to Astra and leaned down to press a gentle kiss to her forehead and whispering something softly in Kryptonese before she leaned back, sighing as she slipped off the side of the bed, her legs giving a little as she settled her weight on her feet again.

Instinctively, Alex reached out and took hold of her sister's upper arm steadying her, her eyes widening slightly in concern.

"I'm alright, Alex. Like you said, it's been a long day." Kara smiled but Alex could hear the exhaustion, see the fatigue in her eyes and the drooping of her frame. Despite the hour or so she had spent under the solar lamps, it seemed her energy and strength had not returned.

"Yeah, it has. Are you sure you're okay? I didn't get to look you over before."

"I'm fine, a little stiff, a lot hungry," Kara chuckled and Alex sighed out a laugh as she rolled her eyes.

Kara gave Alex's hand a soft pat and smiled that loving smile she reserved solely for her big sister before she gently tugged herself free of Alex's grasp and walked over to Vazquez who had stayed silent the entire time letting the sisters have their moment.

As they walked away out of the recovery room and away towards the central command post and Vazquez's work station and the wall of computers that Alex was sure Winn would give his entire figurine collection to get to tinker with, Alex let out a long slow breath she hadn't realized she had been holding in. The weight of what she was going to do settled on her, filling her stomach with dread-ridden butterflies. She was about to break several federal laws, probably more than several, but worst of all she was going to have to break her sister's heart.

Alex Danvers who had spent her life protecting her little alien sister, who had dedicated her life and career to that very thing was going to shatter her invulnerable sister's heart into a million pieces in order to save Astra.

Alex could already feel her own heart breaking for the both of them.

Swallowing past the lump forming in her throat and pushing past her own nerves and fears, she brushed her cropped hair back behind her ear as she turned away from the door and made her way around the bed with the still unconscious Kryptonian who just twenty-four hours ago had been her enemy and number one on the DEO's capture and detain list.

She wanted to say something, fill the empty silence that settled into the room with Kara's departure. To her ears, the sounds of the medical equipment were muted and distant, like she was listening through cotton balls, background hum she'd grown used to. She wanted to say something to Astra, even if she was unconscious, explain herself, tell her that she was doing this to save her, to save Kara, to protect them both, because that's what Alex did, she protected her family and if Kara was willing to forgive her Aunt and if Astra was willing to turn on her husband, then Alex was willing to do this. For both of them.

She couldn't form the words and even if she wanted to, her Super-powered sister would hear her. Even with the distraction of Vazquez and the device they had brought back, she knew Kara, she knew that even subconsciously her super hearing would be focused on Astra, would be monitoring her Aunt's heartbeat.

As she came to stand near the monitors and Astra's IV she gave them a glance, noting her heart rate and blood pressure, reading the rate of radiation absorption, biting her lip and hoping against all hope that Astra had taken in enough solar radiation to get her through this. Glancing down at the woman, she took her in, cataloguing her features, brown eyes sweeping down her lean frame hidden under the white sheet and back up again, settling on her face with an expression of regret that Astra couldn't see.

Turning away from her study of the woman's face she reached into her pocket to take out a small syringe, with a shaky exhalation she went about her part of the plan, pulling the small cap off the syringe, flicking the cylinder, setting the needle to Astra's IV port, injecting the clear liquid.

Her hands worked on autopilot, her mind disengaging herself from her task in order to go through with it without shaking, without trembling, without tears slipping down her cheeks. Her teeth ached from the clench of her jaw as she finished, putting the cap back on the syringe and slipping it back into her pocket. She flushed the port with saline and slipped it into her pocket, too. Taking Astra's limp hand into both of hers, Alex watched as the liquid filtered through the tubing slowly, sliding through and into Astra's veins.

Tightening her grasp on the unconscious woman, she bit the inside of her lip and watched her face intently for any sign of the drugs taking affect. Her eyes flicked from the monitors to Astra and back again every few seconds, even as she began an internal litany of prayers to Gods she didn't believe in. She was raised amongst scientists, like Kara, but unlike her sister, her belief in science, in the tangible and explainable absolutes of science weren't balanced by a faith in the divine.

In that moment, though, she found herself reciting prayers she had heard Kara murmuring during their youth, praying to a God that wasn't her own in the hopes that somehow, even here, under a foreign sun, Rao would hear her, would protect Astra from what was to come, would spare her, just one more time.


	6. Chapter 6

Brace for tears, my sweets. I had them editing this chapter. geesh.

* * *

It started slowly, a flutter of eyelashes, a short sharp inhalation, a roll of eyes beneath closed lids.

Alex held Astra's hand more tightly, trying to comfort her, to reassure her even in her still unconscious state. Her internal monologue had gone from a litany of prayers to simply repeating 'I'm so sorry, please forgive me.'

Astra's heart began to race. Her breathing hitched as she tried to draw in short breaths, and her eyes rolled open, panic and fear flashing in their blue depths before snapping about the room. Gasping for air, she turned her head and her eyes found Alex still clutching her hand between both of her own. Astra's eyes which had been unfocused before were sharp and clear as she seemed to understand exactly what had been done to her, brilliant mind already putting it together without needing anything more than the remorse and guilt-ridden expression on Alex's face.

Alex's eyes filled with tears as she breathed, "I'm so sorry. Please trust me."

Astra didn't look away from her even as her heart rate continued to rise, her breathing became even more difficult, her body tensed, and the hand between both of Alex's grasped so tightly that Alex winced.

"What's happening?"

Kara rushed back into the room, despite Vazquez trying her best to step into her path. The Kryptonian utilised her Super speed and dashed back over, her body filling the door way for a second before she was at Astra's bed side taking her Aunt's other hand. She lifted it from the bed, holding it against her stomach, and looked at her sister.

"Alex!"

"I don't know, Kara." Alex shook her head and dropped Astra's hand and sprinted around the bed. She slammed the emergency button on the wall nearest the door before she ran back over, pulling a tray of equipment towards the bed. Her stomach tied in knots, hands shaking as adrenaline began to pound through her veins again.

She had to make this look good, believable, but there was always the chance it would all go to hell. Astra might actually die.

The medical alarm blared through the room as Alex set about checking Astra's rapidly dropping vitals, doing everything she should be doing if she was working to stabilise the woman.

"What the hell is going on here?" a booming voice demanded from the doorway.

"General Lane! This is a medical ward, you can't be in here," Alex shouted back at the man. An image of Astra being tortured with liquid Kryptonite at his hands shot a spear of white hot rage into her veins, calming the effects of panicked adrenaline. "Get the hell out!"

"Move people! Move!" The medical team rushed into the room. The head doctor shoved aside the bulky barrel-chested General and immediately surrounded the wounded Kryptonian's bed. A nurse tried to push Kara aside in order to get nearer to her patient, but Kara was the Girl of Steel. She moved for no one, unless she wanted to.

"Tell me what's happening!" she screeched at the doctor as he took Alex's place and began to speak to his team, medical jargon completely flying over the heads of the untrained in the room—Kara, General Lane, and J'onn who had tried to delay the other man for as long as possible.

"Get her out of here," The doctor yelled without looking up from his patient.

"Tell me!"

"Supergirl," J'onn called from the door.

"Please tell me!

"Director, get her out of here," the doctor ordered.

"You need to let go, Supergirl." J'onn stepped into the room and walked over to the distraught Kryptonian, trying to ease her grasp on Astra's hand without raising any suspicions. No one should have been able to manoeuvre the young Kryptonian without her conscious effort. Thankful that the medical team was too focused on Astra and General Lane was still in the doorway behind them, J'onn wrapped an arm around Kara's and eased his fingers around her wrist.

"Let her go, Supergirl. Let them save her."

"Please…. Please…."

"Shhhh, it's okay. Let go, let go now," he whispered, soothing her with his deep timber and gentle but firm touch. Kara almost became limp in his grip. Her hand released, and her trembling frame stumbled back from the bed and into his chest.

Without a thought as to what the General would think or the repercussions, he wrapped her up in both arms and pulled her to him, turning her so her shoulder was pressed into his chest, her wrist still held loosely between his fingers as he turned them both away. Kara's knees almost gave out on her, and taking more of her weight against his side, he practically carried the superhero from the room, stumbling them both out and into the waiting arms of Alex Danvers. J'onn handed the distraught young heroine off to her sister, his face pained as he listened to the heaving sobs she cried into her big sisters' shoulder as she clutched at her tightly. Kryptonian spilled from her lips as tears tracked down her cheeks.

"Shhhh, shhhhh, it's okay. She's going to be okay. It's okay." Alex whispered, wrapping her arms around Kara and pressing her hands against her shoulder blades over the cape, trying to keep a tight hold of her little sister's trembling form. Kara's chest heaved with sobs, dampening Alex's standard issue polo with her tears.

All around them DEO agents stood nervously. Many had gathered when General Lane arrived, wary and watchful of the Army soldiers he had brought with him. The agents respected National City's resident hero and held a deep admiration for Agent Danvers whom they had worked with for years. They all wanted to be close by in order to help, to protect their heroine from the General and his men if it came down to it. J'onn looked from the sobbing Kryptonian and her stern-faced sister, trying to hold her own emotions in check with the General standing so close by, to the audience of milling agents and stiff-looking soldiers and gave them all a sweeping narrow-eyed look. They scurried away to their respective stations, except Agent Vazquez who stood close by but not intrusively. Her dark eyes tracked the movements of all the new bodies in their command centre.

Alex's bottom lip quivered slightly but no tears fell, her face set in hard determined lines, her jaw shaking with the effort. He knew whatever she'd done to prevent Astra's captivity had taken a toll… and wasn't over yet.

"What the hell happened, Director Henshaw? I was told you had stopped some kind of Alien terrorist attack on Lord tech satellites?" Lane marched over to the trio, his face a strange mix of confused and angry.

"We did, we manage to stop…"

"She's not a terrorist!" Kara pried herself out of Alex's arms and turned on the General, face still red and puffy from the hours of crying. Her eyes were bleary behind unshed tears, but her expression was no longer that of a distraught heartbroken young woman. It was stern, determined. J'onn almost thought she was angry. There was a set to her jaw he had never really seen before when she tried to be intimidating or angry. It never seemed to fit, her features refusing to mould to the emotion as naturally as it did others. But now he revised his thinking, he had simply never truly seen Kara Zor-El Danvers, last daughter of Krypton, truly angry.

General Lane stopped short in his tirade against Hank and turned his head sharply. His already squinty eyes narrowed as he took in the Superhero, dishevelled and mussed hair, cuts and gouges in her uniform, the dirt clinging to her skin and cape.

"And just what would you call a woman who seems intent on causing widespread destruction and chaos? An enemy combatant that you yourself once captured?" Lane asked in a mocking tone.

Kara sneered and took a menacing step closer to the General, her whole expression twisted into disgust and contempt, looking at the stars on his uniform as if they were a personal affront.

Alex dashed forward and grabbed Kara by the elbow when she noticed the soldiers that had accompanied the General tighten their grip on their weapons. They hadn't raised them, but the implication of violence was quickly understood and received by the experienced agent. They wouldn't have harmed Kara, unless they were loaded with Kryptonite, and knowing Lane, they probably were. She held her sister as tightly as she could, her fingers digging into the textured blue uniform. Kara's body hummed with Kryptonian adrenaline and turned her normally soft, slightly pliable skin to stone under Alex's grip.

"Easy, easy," she breathed softly into Kara's ear, even with Kara in her red Supergirl boots she was at least still tall enough to do that and felt some of the tension release in a rolling wave through her sister's body.

Lane glared at Kara but simply ground his teeth and locked his jaw. Everyone nearby could see his pulse jumping in his jowls, but he didn't respond, simply glowered at the hero for a moment before he turned his attention back to Hank. "What happened?"

"We managed to track down three Kryptonian strike teams. They were attempting to integrate their own technology with the Lord Satellite system. Our teams managed to interrupt them, but we can't be sure how much of the system has been breached. We're still running scans to confirm."

"And that, woman?"

Alex stepped around Kara. "General Astra came to me before the mission. She told me how to save Supergirl from an alien plant that Non had sent to kill her because he wanted her out of the way so they could implement their plans without any interference. He figured we'd be too busy trying to save her to stop him."

Alex set herself in place beside her sister, straightening up to her full height, fingers still wrapped tightly around Kara's elbow, even as Kara crossed her arms across her chest and rolled her shoulders back to straighten herself up under the Generals scrutiny, not wanting to show any weakness in front of him. Before the General could speak again, Kara's arms fell from her chest and the colour ran from her face as the entire command centre heard the long, unbroken wail of the heart monitor.

The doctor was shouting clear.

Alex's grip tightened on her sister.

Kara's heart stuttered in her chest.

J'onn held his breath.

The doctor shouted again and still the heart monitor wailed, one long unceasing note.

Alex's breath caught in her throat when after a third attempt, the monitor stopped its unceasing piercing scream but not because Astra's heartbeat at returned to rhythm.

Kara's entire body trembled even as she staggered forward, shoulder checking the General out of her way sending him staggering back and grasping at his shoulder in pain, but no one paid him any attention. All eyes, all focus was on National City's heroine as she stumbled into the recovery room, dutiful sister following in her wake.

"No… please…." Kara's voice throbbed in her throat as she looked at the scattered medical team, taking in each of their forlorn faces as they looked at her briefly before turning away, unable to look her in the eyes.

"Supergirl… I am so… so sorry, we did everything we could… it just… her body couldn't recover, she couldn't absorb the radiation fast enough after so much internal Kryptonite exposure." The Doctor explained as he stepped away from the bed and walked over towards her slowly, as though approaching a wounded animal. In a way, he was. There was no telling how Kara was going to respond.

Alex reached out tentatively and placed her hand on Kara's shoulder in support, trying to wrangle her features and keep up the strong stoic exterior. She needed to hold it together for her sister, she needed to keep her guilt off her face, she needed to be able to hold Kara together. She needed this to work. She needed not to have killed Astra. Her fear felt real, was real, and so was her grief, a surprising emotion that choked her even as she held her face perfectly still and stared at the wall opposite the door.

Kara's chest heaved as her tears began in earnest again, and all she could do was nod at the Doctor, eyes never straying from Astra's still pale form, the leads, wires and tubes that had been attached to her previously being removed methodically by a nurse who finished as quickly as possible when the young hero made a few shaky steps forward.

Alex's fingers curled into Kara's shoulder as she moved in step with her younger sister, not able to look at the absolutely heartbroken expression on Kara's face. This was worse than all the other times before, when Kara had told her about her home, her world, her people, her life, how it was all gone now. Everything she knew and loved was nothing but dust in space. That was a kind of removed grief, still fresh, still new for a thirteen-year-old girl who had just crashed on a strange new planet, still trying to learn and adjust and adapt, still hurting and scared and broken. Even though Krypton had been gone for more than two decades by the time Kara had arrived, it was still new to her, trapped in the Phantom Zone she only had the memory of her planet's last moments to relive over and over in her dreams.

That was a strange kind of subdued heartbreak, pushed down and hidden and kept secret late at night when her new parents couldn't see her tears, when Alex would find her curled up under her bed with her hands pressed over her ears sobbing into her pillow. All Alex could do was pull a blanket off the bed and crawl underneath there with her, wrap herself around the smaller little girl and hold her as she cried for her lost culture, her dead world.

This… oh this was so much worse.

Kara's tears were a river down her face, her cheeks seemingly permanently stained red from her crying, her whole face wet with them. Her normally sparkling bright blue eyes, always so clear and warm and intense were dulled, all spirit and fire and mirth and happiness drained out of them.

Kara's whole frame moved with her tears, her body shaking under Alex's grasp and she moved her hand down her sisters' arm, smoothing it over the blue of her suit to take her hand. She knew her sister needed her touch, her presence, to ground her and keep her from slipping away, from losing control of her powers. It had happened before, when she was angry or frustrated or scared or overly enthusiastic, ecstatically happy; Kara needed touch to stay in the moment and not loose herself, loose control.

Most people would have been worried about the Girl of Steel crushing their fingers in that moment of poignant grief, but Alex was not most people and she would risk her sister crushing her bones to dust if it meant she could offer her an ounce of comfort as she grieved.

But Kara's fingers didn't entwine with Alex's, she didn't clasp onto her hand tightly, didn't do anything. Her hand hung loose and slack in Alex's grip as they moved together towards the bed with agonizingly slow steps. When they finally reached the bedside Kara released a massive sob and practically collapsed beside the bed. Only Alex's quick reflexes and training kept her from crashing to her knees and possibly making a crater in the floor beneath as her knees gave out and her body sagged.

"Shhhhhhhh, shhhhhhhh, I'm here sweetheart, I'm here. I've got you. I've got you, Kara." Alex breathed against her sister's head as she dragged her back up and onto her feet, wrapping her arms around her sister across her chest, holding her from behind and bracing her feet to keep them both standing.

One of Kara's hands finally lifted and wrapped around Alex's forearm across her chest, squeezing as hard as the Kryptonian dared, holding onto her sister for support and comfort as Alex held her tighter. Letting Kara hang in her grasp, she felt her sister's chest expand and contract with every breath she forced through her lungs. Alex managed to manoeuvre them a little, Kara's hand still wrapped around her forearm, but she was able to slip her other arm back and reached up to smooth back her golden curls. Her hair, usually so soft, falling in perfect tumbling waves, were lank and mussed, and Alex smoothed them back so she could breathe words of comfort into her sister's ear, into her hairline, against her temple, moving with Kara as her chin dropped down and her head hung.

"Shhhhhh, shhhhhh."

"Alex."

"I know, sweetheart. I know. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

Kara's voice was a nothing but breath, nothing but shredded pain and barely breathed out words as Alex whispered against her impenetrable skin, swaying them gently like she used to when they were young. Kara's body still trembled, but the quaking shakes of before subsided as she finally seemed to regain control, as her grief morphed into something more contained. Alex felt the moment her sister shut down, the moment Kara closed herself off and brought down the walls she had erected in her youth to hide her pain from everyone around her, to blend in, to not be found out as the damaged, broken little alien girl who lost her whole world. Kara's chest expanded with deep, solid breaths for a few moments. She sniffled and snuffled, regaining a semblance of control. She reached up with her free hand to wipe at her wet cheeks, one hand still holding Alex tightly against her.

Small tremors were visible in her hand as she reached out towards Astra, curling her fingers into a fist to try and ease the trembling. She reached out again and this time, there was a steadiness in her fingers as she closed the remaining distance and brushed her fingers over Astra's face, over her eyebrows, down her nose, across her cheek, down the hinge of her jaw.

"Astra."

"Kara, I'm…" Alex started to apologize again.

"I… I know Alex," Kara cut her off.

"I'm so sorry," the agent said anyway. She had done this, and she would apologize forever if it went sideways.

"She… she deserves to rest in Rao's light… with… with her sister, with my family…."

"Yes, she does."

Kara nodded in her sister's embrace and skimmed the length of Astra's jaw and into her hair with her fingertips, tangling the brown and white strands around her fingers as she began to speak softly in her native tongue. The words fell with a cadence and rhythm that Alex wasn't familiar with, and she realised with a start that it was some kind of prayer for the dead. When she finished, Kara bowed her head, chin nearly touching the tops of her fingers which still curled around Alex's forearm. Blonde hair fell about her face like a curtain, and Alex desperately wanted to brush it back, to see her sisters face, to try and read her expression and figure out what she should do. With the rushing guilt still filling her gut and aching in her chest, Alex did nothing.

"What… what was that?" The words caught tight in her throat and she had to swallow to try and get them out passed her guilt.

"Our prayer for the dead… to send them on their way to Rao, so… so they won't be alone on the journey… she… she shouldn't be alone...I'll…. I'll be her light in the darkness," Kara said.

"Oh Kara."

"I'm the eldest of my House, the last daughter of…. it's my place to say the words."

Alex could only nod against her sisters' shoulder and clutch her tighter.

"She...there… there's a ritual, we… we light candles... we send them to Rao…."

"Kara?"

"We… we could use my pod…."

Alex pulled back from her sister and managed to extricate herself from Kara's grasp, slipping between Kara and the bed. The Kryptonian moved with her sister, malleable and pliable under Alex's trusted hands. Standing in front of her, Alex reached out and put one hand on Kara's shoulder and the other on her cheek, wiping away the wetness under her eye with her thumb before spreading it across the swell of her cheek bone, brushing away the remains of her tears.

"Kara… we can't."

"Alex?"

"I'm sorry, Supergirl." J'onn's voice startled both of them.

Alex's sole focus had been her sister, her brown eyes trained on her sisters beleaguered appearance, on her pain, and she hadn't heard him enter behind them. She hadn't noticed his silent observance, a sentinel standing guard over them, watching over the devastated Kryptonian with warm paternal concern. The sisters turned as one towards the corner where he had kept himself hidden, being as unobtrusive as possible while simultaneously keeping any one from entering and interrupting, mostly General Lane who they both noticed now was being kept from the room by not only a closed door but Agent Vasquez who, despite her small frame, was doing an admirable job of intimidating anyone in the vicinity into keeping their distance, standing in front of the closed door with her hand resting on the pistol strapped to her thigh.

"J'onn… please..." Kara's lower lip trembled as the words tumbled from her in a broken sob, her eyes dancing from the General to the Martian and then down to Astra.

"I'm sorry, Kara, we can't. I wish I could let you observe your religion in this way, I wish you could give her the proper burial she deserves…. But… I cannot allow it."

Kara's chin quivered, but she nodded, still wrapped up in her sisters' arms as Alex clung to her, trying to comfort and reassure and keep her from crumbling with the strength of her will and force of her embrace.

"Alex… let's get our Supergirl cleaned up?" J'onn gave her a loaded look and a nod, and Alex understood without words what he was saying. If the rest of her plan was to be implemented they had to move fast, they had to move now.

"Sir, J'onn… I'll… I'll take care of her."

He gave another nod as he moved from his spot and walked towards them, briefly wrapping Kara and by extension Alex in a hug. The hug was all too brief, J'onn wasn't one for emotional displays, but it was more than enough for the sisters who both took something from the embrace. Kara took solace and warmth from J'onn's strength, his solidity, which was only slightly ironic considering his abilities. Alex took comfort in it as well and no small amount of hope. Hope that when all this was over, she had made the right choice.

"Go on now, you've both earned a few days off." He let them go and stepped back, patting Kara a little awkwardly on the shoulder and giving Alex another nod.

"Please…. Watch over her?" Kara pleaded her blue eyes wide as she looked at him with a broken expression resembling a puppy that had been kicked.

"Like she was family," J'onn promised.


End file.
